The number lesson that this Polish My Pitch episode demonstrates is that your pitch should always always always be about them and not you. Yeah, I know Simon Sinek says that you should tell your ‘why’ story and I agree with him in certain contexts, but it should not be your opener. When Niki started to tell her (admittedly very compelling) story about her ‘why’ as her pitch. I helped her to see that it’s never about us.
People purchase based on THEIR pain. They are biologically attuned to hearing about danger to them. So when you use these triggers to snag their attention immediately in your elevator pitch, you get their laser focus on what you’re saying. The other part of helping Niki polish her pitch was to focus her down from targeting generic corporate employees to IT managers. Not only will picking a vertical give her endless weekly, even daily opportunities to network with a concentration of her prospects, but it will clarify her marketing message. Telling a manager in a specific industry (like IT) that you specialize in their pain does several wonderful things for your business. First, it allows you to speak directly to their pain. For example, Niki might find that people in IT have more health issues than other industry averages. Second, it allows you to find them self-gathered in groups. And lastly, it allows you to get referral after referral because once you’ve helped one person in an industry, they will naturally talk about you to their peers and colleagues in that same industry.
So, make sure that you’re clear on who you help and remember to stop talking about yourself in your elevator pitch.
If you thought what Niki went through was a great experience, email me at chala@repositioner.com
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